Software Acquisition & Distribution

Faculty and staff whose departments and colleges have unique software needs should contact Information Technology Services to assist with the purchase, licensing and distribution of discipline-specific software. ITS is Northeastern’s centrally managed software provider for applications used for research, teaching and university business.

ITS negotiates, procures and manages software licenses, often acquiring additional services and/or lower licensing costs. If possible, ITS attempts to identify other departments/areas of the university who have the same software needs, allowing you to cost share the purchase, which makes the software more affordable and more widely available. Once software is purchased, licensed and/or verified by ITS, we will work with your to distribute the software.

For more information on software installation and to prevent any licensing or integration issues, see the Software Policy page.

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Acquisition & Licensing

Faculty and Staff can submit questions regarding assistance in the acquisition of software or a request that the Software Licensing staff investigate, negotiate and help procure software by submitting a request in myHelp. For more on this process, see the How To’s. Once you have acquired the software, you can then submit a distribution request.

Distribution

Faculty and staff also can submit a request through myHelp for ITS to distribute department-owned software used for research, teaching and university business, or to provide lab use for a minimum of 25 computers. For more on this process, see the How To’s.

NOTE: Ample licensing is required to install software on Northeastern-owned machines for distribution and it is suggested that departments should contact ITS prior to purchasing an application. This may prevent any licensing/integration issues.

The software submission process will:

Ensure software will work properly within Northeastern’s computing environment without affecting other applications

Prevent copyright infringement and guarantee compliance

Enable faculty and staff to obtain the maximum benefits for budget funding spent

Please allow 8 weeks (not including university holidays) starting from the time ITS has received the required software and documentation to the time you need the software available. This lead-time gives ITS the time it needs for testing and installation of multiple applications, along with necessary maintenance activities. Requests will be tested and installed in the order in which they are received, so please be aware of high volume requests periods prior to the start of each semester.

Please note that if ITS determines that the software will become part of the base image, the request must be received by the submission deadlines below.

Submission Deadline

Image Version

Date Available*

October 1

Spring

January 1

March 1

Summer

May 1

June 1

Fall

September 1

* Date the software is expected to be available in the machines

Requests for distributing department-owned software submitted after the above closing dates will receive “best-effort” service. All on-time requests are given priority. Valid software licenses are required for all software installed on the Northeastern network.

Support

In order to obtain the best purchase and licensing terms for your software needs, and to reduce the likelihood of licensing and integration difficulties, ITS welcomes your call prior to purchasing a software application. Contact us at software@neu.edu.